18 months

Mr. Eli is 18 months old.. sniff sniff. At his well baby visit yesterday he weighed 29.5 lbs (90%) and was 34 1/2 inches (90%). He didn't have to have any shots except for the flu shot. He made an A plus on his developmental screening and is a joy to our lives.

So what can Eli do now?? Well... Josh and I tried to count his words but were unsuccessful because there are so many. We just counted the names of people he knows and had almost hit 50. He is starting to combine words such as " I see dog" and "mommys shoe" and imitates everything. He loves to read "Good Night Moon",  "Brown Bear" (he recites this one along with us), and loves to look at his first word picture book where he can name a lot of the pictures. He is starting to sing.. he gets a few words of "Jesus loves me" and "Baby Beluga". He can answer questions...says 'no' and will say "uh huh" for yes. He will say 'yes' if you ask him to but he uses "uh huh".  He names all sorts of body parts including 'eye brow' and loves to play in the bed with Mommy and Daddy in the mornings and poke Josh's eyes while saying "eyes, eyes".

 He can feed himself with a spoon, and tries to put on his shoes (unsuccessfully.. but it's so funny watching him try to stuff his feet in them). Eli runs, jumps, climbs.... even up the ladder to Isaac's top bunk (with me behind him of course). Can scribble with crayons but doesn't have much interest. He is definitely not a picky eater as you can tell from the  29 lbs.- he likes Thai, Japanese (he says "rice and chicken"), Italian... well really any type of food. I think his favorite is still spaghetti. He is doing better holding my hand when we are out places- we still have episodes where he runs and I have to chase after him. Sometimes it is just easier to strap him in the stroller.  He takes one afternoon nap usually 12-2 in the afternoon, goes to bed around 830pm and wakes around 730am. He is a much better sleeper than his older brother was. He usually gets excited that it is nap time and takes his passy, and blue silky blanket and goes to his crib waiting to be picked up and put in. Of course there are the exceptions such as yesterday when I put him down and he laid in there for an hour and wouldn't go to sleep!  He says "poo poo" when he goes but has no interest in the potty.

Here are some other little things he  has done recently.  He will go get the broom to dig a car out under the couch.  He noticed that our niece has a pair of Chacos similar to mine and that the straps were alike, so he went and put both shoes together and tried to buckle the shoes together. He saw a Buick car on vacation and started saying "Nanny, Nanny ( she drives one). He was able to navigate us from the elevator straight to our room with out making a mistake on vacation.

Ohh and he has a mullet... I just can't cut the curls yet!

We love you Eli Thomas and are enjoying watching you grow!